Establishing humanitarian corridors out of Ukraine is a top priority

Establishing humanitarian¹ corridors out of Ukraine is a top priority

Transcript²

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Jaime Nadal about the humanitarian effects of Russia's war on Ukraine. Nadal is the representative to Ukraine at the United Nations Population Fund.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is back in his office. He delivered a defiant³ address from the Capitol building in Kyiv. He said he isn't hiding, and he will insist on continued negotiations⁴ with Russia. The most urgent issue right now is getting people out of the country safely. But several attempts at setting up humanitarian corridors to evacuate⁵ civilians⁷ have failed. Even this morning, the spokesman for the Ministry⁸ of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine said Russian forces are shelling an evacuation route out of the southern port city of Mariupol.

Jaime Nadal says humanitarian corridors are the only way to stop the civilian⁶ casualties. He is the representative to Ukraine at the United Nations Population Fund. He and his staff left Kyiv. Now he is in the southwest of the country.

JAIME NADAL: We still have a handful of colleagues who are in Kyiv, and in some cases, some of them - they want to be relocated, but currently the conditions are so complicated that it's proving to be quite challenging. Still, we are trying, and I hope that everybody will be able to be moved out of the city and be safe and sound.

MARTIN: Let's talk about the efforts to get civilians out. There have been these failed attempts to set up humanitarian corridors. Do you have any more information as to what the alternative is to get people out safely?

NADAL: Well, there are no alternative to humanitarian corridors. Humanitarian corridors need to be established. Establishing those corridors to let the population out of those areas and to let humanitarian aid into the areas is absolutely - it's a top priority right now.

MARTIN: Russia has suggested creating corridors that would take refugees to Russia or Belarus. The Ukrainian government has denied that option. What is the best way forward here?

NADAL: I'm not going to comment on that. I mean, we've been focusing on the corridor, for instance, between Mariupol and Dnipro, which is an area that is - has been severely⁹ hit by the attack and the military interventions¹⁰. And we really need that corridor to be functional¹¹ as soon as possible. We also need the corridor that would enable the U.N. and other humanitarian actors to be functional between the west of Ukraine, concretely the Polish border, and Kyiv and elsewhere, because we need to establish logistic hubs in the country that will enable us to reach out to the areas where the needs are.

MARTIN: Six hospitals, I understand, were bombed over the weekend. We are hearing several of them are without electricity, without water. Surgeries are being performed in basement shelters. How are nurses and doctors getting supplies?

NADAL: They are not, at this point. The complete supply chain is disrupted, and they are running very, very low of essential medicines and supplies. And again, this is posing a very serious threat to the lives of women and patients in general. But I mean, talking from the mandate¹² of UNFPA, we look after women's reproductive health. We don't want any woman to lose her life giving birth. That's - you know, that's unacceptable. And yet we are seeing women having their deliveries in makeshift shelters, in basements of buildings, in metro¹³ stations by the hundreds, if not thousands right now. And this is a trend that is dramatic, is massive and is likely to worsen in the future unless the hostilities¹⁴, the war stops immediately.

MARTIN: Yeah. Have you had conversations with these doctors, nurses and medical staff? How is their own morale¹⁵? After all, they have to look after their own health and safety, that of their own families.

NADAL: We did a scanning of the situation of health facilities at the beginning of the war on the 24, 25 of February, but I have to confess that some areas - like Mariupol, for instance - we've been trying to reach out to them, and we have been unable to. Telephones are not working. Cell phones are not working. And there is no way to communicate with them.

MARTIN: What do you want the international community to know right now about what's happening there, what the need is?

NADAL: What I would like the international community to know is that women - women who may be pregnant, women who are on the move, running away from this madness of war - are at very high risk. And this is so absurd and unnecessary. There is nothing that justify¹⁶ that they have to go through this situation, and frankly¹⁷, I mean, it's so horrendous¹⁸, so heartbreaking to see what is happening in Ukraine. And Ukraine needs help. Ukraine really needs humanitarian actors, governments to provide assistance. We need the international community to act, to act together, to provide support to the humanitarian response that is being established. The U.N. has made already a flash appeal, seeking support from member states in order to make sure that these corridors, these humanitarian corridors, allow for the evacuation of civilian population, but also for the deployment¹⁹ of much-needed supplies to sustain basic lifesaving services, including reproductive health for pregnant women. And I hope that the international community will respond to this plea for support because it's really a dramatic situation that requires a massive, massive response from the international community. More people will die. It's as simple as that.

MARTIN: Jaime Nadal, representative to Ukraine at the United Nations Population Fund. He's speaking to us from a safe location in the western part of the country, where he and his staff have evacuated²⁰. Thank you so much for talking with us.

NADAL: Thank you very much.

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 evacuate   

v.遣送；搬空；抽出；排泄；大(小)便

参考例句：

• We must evacuate those soldiers at once!我们必须立即撤出这些士兵！
• They were planning to evacuate the seventy American officials still in the country.他们正计划转移仍滞留在该国的70名美国官员。

6 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

7 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

9 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

10 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

11 functional   

adj.为实用而设计的，具备功能的，起作用的

参考例句：

• The telephone was out of order,but is functional now.电话刚才坏了，但现在可以用了。
• The furniture is not fancy,just functional.这些家具不是摆着好看的，只是为了实用。

12 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

13 metro   

n.地铁；adj.大都市的；(METRO)麦德隆(财富500强公司之一总部所在地德国，主要经营零售)

参考例句：

• Can you reach the park by metro?你可以乘地铁到达那个公园吗？
• The metro flood gate system is a disaster prevention equipment.地铁防淹门系统是一种防灾设备。

14 hostilities   

n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事

参考例句：

• Mexico called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. 墨西哥要求立即停止敌对行动。
• All the old hostilities resurfaced when they met again. 他们再次碰面时，过去的种种敌意又都冒了出来。

15 morale   

n.道德准则，士气，斗志

参考例句：

• The morale of the enemy troops is sinking lower every day.敌军的士气日益低落。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。

16 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

17 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

18 horrendous   

adj.可怕的，令人惊惧的

参考例句：

• He described it as the most horrendous experience of his life.他形容这是自己一生中最可怕的经历。
• The mining industry in China has a horrendous safety record.中国的煤矿工业具有令人不安的安全记录。

19 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

20 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。